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The Tomb of the Eagles - Isbister, Orkney
Factsheet
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- The
5000 year old Isbister Tomb: containing
the remains of over 338 people and,
interestingly, the bones of white-tailed
sea eagles.
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Isbister
is one of the most dramatic Neolithic
discoveries of the 20th Century. It's
a chambered tomb, like Maes Howe,
and was originally covered by an oval
cairn - until it was excavated that
is. When it was opened, human skulls
were found in small cells off the
main chamber, which was a mass of
mixed-up, human bones - sometimes
placed in heaps with skull placed
on top.
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Tombs
like Isbister weren't merely burial
sites for dead individuals, they were
important symbols of a tribe or community
as a whole.
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It
wasn't important to be an individual
when somebody died in Neolithic Orkney.
The bones of all ages and sexes were
mixed up together until they were
indistinguishable: it seems that there
was some kind of equality in death.
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Ceremonies
took place in the tomb - fires were
lit, bones and other objects were
burnt. Pottery and the bones of young
animals were found, suggesting feasting
in the tomb.
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Why
Eagles?
Neolithic communities in Orkney had a
special affinity with certain animals:
some with dogs, some with deer, or, like
the community at Isbister, with white-tailed
sea eagles. Many eagle bones and talons
were found at Isbister - a totem of the
people who lived there.
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What
Story
do the Bones Tell?
Isbister
was a very youthful community in modern
terms. The average life expectancy was
20-25, with only 10% of the people found
living beyond their twenties.
Only
a very few would live to be as old as
50, and their knowledge and experience
must have been revered.
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In
general the community were only an inch
shorter than the average height of people
today. Also, many adults had developed
bad backs.
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